Re: Gender classes, which to use?

On Thu, 26 Nov 1998, Nik Taylor wrote:

> My apologies, epicene = either gender
>
> > 2. How do you refer to an animal of a specific sex (e.g., mare, bull,
> > etc.)?
>
> Either seperate terms (as we do with hen/rooster) or affixes (as in English she-wolf),
> or perhaps words meaning "male" and "female", but there are no pronouns distinguishing
> gender of an animal.
Just to add two more bits to this gender thread, here are the Teonaht
animals I had intended to post to the website and hadn't... there's a
link in my NOUNS file that gets you nowhere (because I hadn't loaded
it) all about animals and their genders.

Basically, the name of the animal itself is "epicene," to use this handy
word, and you add adjectives to indicate its sex which also indicate
its type.  Baby animals are also genderless, and are either expressed by
a dedicate noun or with the diminutive adjective:

        Grazing mammals:

                ykwa  "horse"
                        ykwa vond "stallion"
                        ykwa veldr  "mare"
                        mimmykwa  "horses" (either gender)
                        ykwwawet  "foal/colt" (little horse)

                feco   "cow/bull"
                        feko vond  "bull"
                        feko veldr  "cow"
                        niffeko  "cattle"
                        fekkowet "calf"


                yba    "sheep"
                        yba vond  "ram"
                        yba veldr  "ewe"
                        mimmyba  "sheep"
                        yno  "lamb"

        Mammals that hunt:

                1) domestic and wild cats:

                        tohda   "cat"
                        tohda zem   "tom"
                        tohda lim   "queen"
                        tohdan   "cats"
                        tohdiwet  "kitten"

                2) dogs, bears, wolves

                        kohsa  "dog"
                        kohsa veks  "male dog"
                        kohsa lim  "bitch"
                        kohsan  "dogs"
                        kowet  "puppy"

                        fulpa  "fox"
                        fulpa veks  "male fox"
                        fulpa lim  "vixen"
                        fulpwet  "cub"

                3) rodents and burrowing mammals

                        nykanel  "mouse"
                        nykanel ocy  "male mouse"
                        nykanel ycy  "female mouse"
                        ninnykanel  "mice"
                        nikanilet  "baby mouse"

                        damabrohk  "badger"
                        damabbrocy  "male badger"
                        dammabbrycy  "female badger"
                        mimdamabrohk  "badgers"


        Birds:

                1)  Songbirds

                        eplya  "blackbird"
                        eplya tond "male blackbird"
                        eplya tendr  "female blackbird"
                        mimeplya  "blackbirds"
                        eplywet  "chick"

                        vyo  "dove"
                        vyo dond  "male dove"
                        vyo marrya  "the Mary dove" (i.e. female)
                        nivvyo  "doves"
                        vyowet  "squab"

                2)  fowl:

                        moltro  "chicken"
                        moltro geks  "cock"
                        moltro keky  "hen"
                        nimmoltro  "fowl"
                        moltrowet "chick"

                3) waterfowl:

                        kwermet "duck"
                        kwermedeks  "drake"
                        kwermeddendr  "female duck"
                        kwety  "duckling"

                4) seabirds:

                        moyra  "albatross"
                        moyra mar "male albatross"
                        moyra miry  "female albatross"
                        mimmoyra  "albatross"

                        jyjak  "gull"
                        jyjamar "male gull"
                        jyjammiry "female gull"
                        nijjyjak  "gulls"

                5) raptors and carrion birds

                        marto  "hawk"
                        marto raf "male hawk"
                        marto reft  "female hawk"
                        mimmarto  "hawks"


These are incomplete; the adjectives in some cases identify the type of
animal they are:  veks means "crafty" and is well-applied to a male fox
(following the Renard tradition, that is, but it's also applied to a male
dog, which often gets the adjective loyal--but both bitch and vixen get
the female equivalent);  ocy means "secretive" and is given to rats, mice,
squirrels, etc.  Tendr means "egg," and applies to a lot of birds.

You can also refer to the animals by their generic adjectives alone, so
long as there is no ambiguity:  See the "tendr" sitting on her nest; I
bought a wulfhound, a beautiful "lim."  Catch the little ycy before my
tohda sees her... etc.

Very eeky and sneaky.  I have a whole host of reptiles and sea creatures
to invent.  This system is not supposed to apply to humans but in vulgar
uses it surely can.

heh heh heh.

Sally
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Sally Caves
scaves@frontiernet.net
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/teonaht.html
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/contents.html


Li fetil'aiba, dam hoja-le uen.
volwin ly, vul inua aiba bronib.

This leaf, the wind takes her.
She's old, and born this year.
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